County councillors have asked the Government for £1m to spend on improving safety and traffic flow on one of Oxford's busiest roads.

Officers from the Government's transport department visited Oxford this week to see whether a scheme was urgently needed in Cowley Road, east Oxford.

Traffic is nearly always heavy on the road, which is lined with homes, businesses, bars and nightclubs, and is often used as a short cut to the city centre.

The council has not yet worked out details of a scheme should its bid for funding be approved.

Cowley Road is one of 10 highways in the UK to be shortlisted by the Government. Only five will be awarded cash. The road was picked for the next traffic scheme in Oxford because work to regenerate the area by East Oxford Action group has already laid the foundations for a review.

The group extensively consulted Cowley Road residents, who said the area had been neglected by the Oxford Transport Strategy and complained that action was long overdue.

Martin Stemp, of Salegate Lane, Temple Cowley, said: "We raise the issue of the poor state of our roads time and time again with the authorities, but we're ignored."

Biddy Hudson, county councillor for Temple Cowley, said any review should include the entire road, not just the Cowley ward end, and that new measures should not hinder bus services.

She said: "It's not necessarily going to be looking at congestion, but at safety and assessing how traffic flows."

Ms Hudson said: "East Oxford Action's work has made it much easier for the council to look at Cowley Road.

"It makes sense to look at it now."

The reviews were discussed at Oxford City Council's Cowley area committee on December 4.

Transport planner Sam Tharme said Cowley Road urgently needed attention.

She said: "We want to make it safer, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists.

"There are also several congestion points where people unload lorries.

"We need to manage the unloading activity."